Good point Eagle, but I think you'll see a different Laker team after the break. They are on the verge of missing the playoffs and I don't think the NBA wants to lose that big of a market! So until they are mathematically out of it, I think you'll see them play their as ses off!

I really do not think the Lakers can put it together. The chemistry is bad. Miami took a year and a half before they were able to get the chemistry right between Bosh, LeBron, and Wade. That first year they couldnt play well together consistently. I do not think you are able to just decide to play your a s s off and turn your season around. Kobe, Nash, and Howard have no chemistry. It is not going to just magically appear after the all star break. It takes many games and a desire to work together. Howard and Kobe are too busy Jockeying for the Best Player on the Lakers. Fighting in the press. Kobe wants to prove to the whole world he can do everything on the basketball court and wants to be labeled King. Howard can't be satisfied being second fiddle. Kobe wants to be Mr. assist one night and then scorer the next. This does not allow the team to form a consistency and develop the chemistry. The other players are too busy trying to understand what their role is from game to game. "Do we feed Kobe tonight because he is going to be a scorer? " or " Do we get ready to score ourselves because Kobe is going to be driving and pass the ball"? This type of indecision causes turnovers, and turnovers spell break out baskets for the other teams. Which translates in to quick spread killers if the Lakers are covering at the time. This happened in the Phoenix game a few nights ago. Lakers up by 15 in third and then a run by the Suns due to the turnovers and quick break outs. The spread was done (-8.5) and the Lakers win by six. The Lakers do not have that stopping defense necessary to keep spreads intact. It is not going to be something that miraculously changes after the break. I am saying it now. Lakers do not make the playoffs this year and fading them in spots where they are favored by 4 or more points will be my bet the rest of the season.

I really do not think the Lakers can put it together. The chemistry is bad. Miami took a year and a half before they were able to get the chemistry right between Bosh, LeBron, and Wade. That first year they couldnt play well together consistently. I do not think you are able to just decide to play your a s s off and turn your season around. Kobe, Nash, and Howard have no chemistry. It is not going to just magically appear after the all star break. It takes many games and a desire to work together. Howard and Kobe are too busy Jockeying for the Best Player on the Lakers. Fighting in the press. Kobe wants to prove to the whole world he can do everything on the basketball court and wants to be labeled King. Howard can't be satisfied being second fiddle. Kobe wants to be Mr. assist one night and then scorer the next. This does not allow the team to form a consistency and develop the chemistry. The other players are too busy trying to understand what their role is from game to game. "Do we feed Kobe tonight because he is going to be a scorer? " or " Do we get ready to score ourselves because Kobe is going to be driving and pass the ball"? This type of indecision causes turnovers, and turnovers spell break out baskets for the other teams. Which translates in to quick spread killers if the Lakers are covering at the time. This happened in the Phoenix game a few nights ago. Lakers up by 15 in third and then a run by the Suns due to the turnovers and quick break outs. The spread was done (-8.5) and the Lakers win by six. The Lakers do not have that stopping defense necessary to keep spreads intact. It is not going to be something that miraculously changes after the break. I am saying it now. Lakers do not make the playoffs this year and fading them in spots where they are favored by 4 or more points will be my bet the rest of the season.

I guess we will find out soon enough. I'm not saying the Lakers are going to make the playoffs, it's obvious to any that has halfway decent that they are out of sink, but I would be careful about betting against them until they are mathematically eliminated. Your right when you say it takes more than just effort right their ship, it takes the many years of experience that Nash and Bryant have under their belt. I personally am not a fan of the Lakers, they've always been a bit ch of a team for me too get on the right side of, but now their running out of time and I think that minimizes the risk. Who knows, we all may get hit by a bunch of meteors tomorrow and it won't make a sh it!

Correction: obvious to anyone that has halfway decent vision that they are out of sink.I'll stick my neck out and say that after the all star game there will be a window of opportunity of making money betting on the Lakers. Just my opinion! The second half of every season whether it'sfootball, basketball or especially baseball the teams that have been there before tend to make a run. In baseball it's more the pitchers #'s tend to get closer to his career #'s. Anyway let's all have a great second half and make some damn money. Zuzzy, I think I'll take you and Turbomans advice and just play heavy on the cream if I can figure out which ones they are! Good luck everyone and thanks Mavin for putting this deal together!

Correction: obvious to anyone that has halfway decent vision that they are out of sink.I'll stick my neck out and say that after the all star game there will be a window of opportunity of making money betting on the Lakers. Just my opinion! The second half of every season whether it'sfootball, basketball or especially baseball the teams that have been there before tend to make a run. In baseball it's more the pitchers #'s tend to get closer to his career #'s. Anyway let's all have a great second half and make some damn money. Zuzzy, I think I'll take you and Turbomans advice and just play heavy on the cream if I can figure out which ones they are! Good luck everyone and thanks Mavin for putting this deal together!

Oreo I respect your opinion and you have helped me look at a different perspective. That I appreciate!

jus been trolling ur thread for a while... love the concept of this thing.... i truly do feel that if u put the work (following and learning) we can consistently make money.... I lost 1500 really quick on bball after football ended cuz i didnt do my homework... kinda rushed in midseason ... last few wks been pretty good but bets much much smaller and more selective... def using yalls posts n comments to aide my picks.... only problem i have with wats happening here is that betting everyday always a recipe for disaster also not more than 2-3 picks... the lines are created so well by these super computers that unless you have more solid credible evidence from personal experience with that particular team/players than the vegas computer u cant win consistently... that said.. i havent done that yet this yr in nba but im working there and much better for it now .....

Oreo I respect your opinion and you have helped me look at a different perspective. That I appreciate!

That is part of why we are all here-

as for Oreo this is my first year really betting alot on NBA- It seems a lot harder than the NFL where I will start a thread come pre season-

Half doctor- you are spot on betting every day can be a recipe for disaster that being said I can tell you that my $1 parlays hit about 60%-80% of the games selected, I however only pick 3 games out of those parlays on most days and hit about 50% on average which does not make u money- but when my teasers and parlays hit it makes up for it- this is entertainment and learning more about the NBA for now while I wait for september-

Your thread was an inspiration for me to sign up with covers and open a thread of my own. I'll be honored if you dropped in from time to time and gave your opinion. I too, as yourself - have no inspiration to become a tout and want to do what I'm best at for totally altruistic reasons.

Fuzzrod and turbo, how come you don't use the mobile version instead of the desk top version. I hardly ever use my desk top much anymore unless I'm moving some stock or doing continuing ed or some sh it.

I don't know much about basketball and this may help my perspective. I only have one view about the NBA and that is this:

My observations are that those who feel the Lakers will soon come good are based only on the following types of argument; it's about time, they are the Lakers, surely they will make it, Kobe is great, the league won't want them to miss out etc etc. Compare these types of emotional arguments to those typically put forward by really decent cappers, who focus on match-ups, schedules, stats showing regression etc etc. My point being that nobody uses any of these points for the Lakers, only the emotional ones, as reasons to back them. Look at the spread for the Clippers game, and people STILL took the Lakers. Any other team v the Clippers with the Lakers record on a 'neutral' court would have been +8.

Maybe they will come good and make the play-offs, but they will have to start playing better than their opponents from now on (obviously). And nobody has shown me a coherent case for why this should happen yet. Back them at your peril!

If already the Lakers are the main topic of our discussion in this flop time of All Star BS - I have one perspective on that: the Lakers are of of the teams who buried tremendous amounts of the money for their backers in recent years. I have been burned on the Lakers a lot and somehow we never learn a lesson that the Lakers are not called the Fakers for nothing. When they can they don't and when they already want - they can't. The atmosphere in a club right now is very bad as Kobe's ego and Howards ego are on a collision course and D'Antoni's impotence to force his will is not there as never been in any of the teams he coached. He needs a disciplined players who listen to the coach and in the Lakers that is very hard to find. In addition - Phil Jackson's shadow will hang in the Lakers organization for a long time as the last Laker coach to be respected and listened as one who coached MJ. There are certain things you can never set back. The only team in NBA that is really coached by a coach is SA. And that is not for nothing. Most - if not all the star players on that team are not American players and do not have an attitude. They are mature enough and wise enough to understand that what is winning championship is a team chemistry and the great coaching. Unless you are Miami heat where the players have enough intelligence combined with ability. So for me - the Lakers will not make the playoffs as I see too many problems for them. And their fans as the bettors still would not care and will blindly believe (like me in the near past) that Kobe alone can pull them trough.

If already the Lakers are the main topic of our discussion in this flop time of All Star BS - I have one perspective on that: the Lakers are of of the teams who buried tremendous amounts of the money for their backers in recent years. I have been burned on the Lakers a lot and somehow we never learn a lesson that the Lakers are not called the Fakers for nothing. When they can they don't and when they already want - they can't. The atmosphere in a club right now is very bad as Kobe's ego and Howards ego are on a collision course and D'Antoni's impotence to force his will is not there as never been in any of the teams he coached. He needs a disciplined players who listen to the coach and in the Lakers that is very hard to find. In addition - Phil Jackson's shadow will hang in the Lakers organization for a long time as the last Laker coach to be respected and listened as one who coached MJ. There are certain things you can never set back. The only team in NBA that is really coached by a coach is SA. And that is not for nothing. Most - if not all the star players on that team are not American players and do not have an attitude. They are mature enough and wise enough to understand that what is winning championship is a team chemistry and the great coaching. Unless you are Miami heat where the players have enough intelligence combined with ability. So for me - the Lakers will not make the playoffs as I see too many problems for them. And their fans as the bettors still would not care and will blindly believe (like me in the near past) that Kobe alone can pull them trough.

Exactly! Mavin! and Jules your perspective jives with mine. The public is attached emotionally and will not believe the lines because of the attachment. They think to themselves, Kobe, Howard, and Nash can't lose and there goes the cash. Not backing them is where your going to be able to make some nice cash!

As you say Mavin, you have been burned on the Lakers a lot and never seemed to learn your lesson. There is probably a lot of us that can unfortunately testify to that fact, myself included, but in my many years of gambling I have to ask myself one question, what generally happens to a team that I consistently bet on for a period of time and lose? I then quit playing them. Then what always seems to happen? The bast ards always cover like mad dogs for what seems like for ever! Now I don't believe in magic or any of that sh it, and you can call it Bio rhythms or whatever, but the story always seems to come out the same. The best thing to do is to just stay away from teams that are doing such a major transformation, especially since there are so many items on the menu. The Lakers remind me of a tech stock right now, extremely volatile. You want to make your tech stock go up, just sell that sob, it'll go up believe me!

Fuzzrod and turbo, how come you don't use the mobile version instead of the desk top version. I hardly ever use my desk top much anymore unless I'm moving some stock or doing continuing ed or some sh it.

I use them both as this post will show but if am trading I am on the computer-

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